Helen Bond - Women Remembered: Jesus Female Disciples

Helen Bond (Author)
Helen K. Bond is Professor of Christian Origins and Head of the School of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on the social and political history of Judaea under Roman rule, the historical Jesus and the canonical gospels. She is the author of Pontius Pilate in History and Interpretation (CUP, 1998), Caiaphas: High Priest and Friend of Rome? (Westminster John Knox, 2004), The Historical Jesus: A Guide for the Perplexed (Bloomsbury, 2012), Jesus: A Very Brief History (SPCK, 2017), The First Biography of Jesus: Genre and Meaning in Mark's Gospel (Eerdmans, 2020), and a number of shorter studies and articles. She has contributed to over 50 TV and radio documentaries, including acting as historical consultant to The Nativity (BBC, 2010) and co-presenter (with Joan Taylor) on Jesus' Female Disciples (Channel 4, 2018).
Joan Taylor (Author)
Joan Taylor is Professor of Christian Origins and Second Temple Judaism at King's College London. She has authored numerous books and articles about Jesus and his world, notably The Immerser: John the Baptist within Second Temple Judaism (1997), Jesus and Brian: Studying the Historical Jesus via Monty Python's Life of Brian (2015) and What did Jesus look like ? (2018). She has studied questions of women and gender: Jewish Women Philosophers of First-Century Alexandria: Philo's Therapeutae Reconsidered (2006); with Ilaria Ramelli, Patterns of Women's Leadership in Early Christianity (2021). She is currently writing a Very Short Introduction to Mary Magdalene for the Oxford series. She also works in radio, television and film, and co-presented, with Helen Bond, Jesus' Female Disciples: The New Evidence (2018) for Channel Four.

Women Remembered

Jesus' Female Disciples

Helen Bond and Joan Taylor

www.hodderfaith.com

First published in Great Britain in 2022 by Hodder & Stoughton

An Hachette UK company

Copyright Helen Bond and Joan Taylor, 2022

The right of Helen Bond and Joan Taylor to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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In celebration of car chat,

and with thanks to Anna and JC

Contents

Prologue

About the Authors, and a Documentary

This book is authored by two professors of Christian Origins who share a common passion to reach beyond the ivory towers of university education and to share their knowledge and research with a wider audience. Our long years of research and many publications have led us to high positions within our fields, but often what we say is not widely heard outside the limited circles of conferences and seminars. We both enjoy giving public talks and writing for wider audiences, and love opportunities to share ideas on television or radio.

Joan and Helen: intrepid researchers of Jesus Female Disciples (2018)

A few years ago, we pitched a television programme to Jean-Claude Bragard of Minerva Media, who successfully got it commissioned by Channel 4s Secret History series. Jesus Female Disciples: The New Evidence (Minerva Pictures for Channel 4, 2018) is a documentary that marries old and new material, ourown research and that of others, as we search to illuminate the women who were part of Jesus mission and their legacy. Directed by the gifted Anna Cox, the programme attracted a UK audience of 1.4 million (subsequently shown in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia and elsewhere in the world) and received more press coverage than any other religious programme since the BBCs Son of God in 2001. It featured in the Independent , The Times , and the Guardian . Six national newspapers cited it as Pick of the Day. The Sunday Times named it Critics Choice, and declared, It is worth hoping that this engaging and intrepid presenting duo are given more films to present together. Black Christian News , Christianity Today , Church News and the international Catholic magazine the Tablet aided uptake among Christians on both sides of the Atlantic.

Victoria Segal in the The Sunday Times , 8 April 2018.

This documentary lies behind the present book. During our travels we filmed in Jordan, Israel and Italy with a small team of two cameramen, a sound recordist and the director, helped by fixers along the way. As we moved from one location to another, we met many experts and ended up with far too much material for a fifty-minute film. We constantly debated between ourselves, chatting as we drove in the hired car, imagining the lives of the women who travelled with Jesus, using all our skills and expertise to think afresh. Even the precise wording of the biblical texts was challenged, as we made our own versions of the original Greek (many of which are in the present book).

We first scribbled down the notes for this book while waiting for hours in the crowded transit hall of the Allenby Bridge crossing, going from Jordan to Israel over the Jordan River, with a firm sense that we ourselves were learning more than we had anticipated. Even being on the road opened our eyes to new things. Journeying with a mission now is very different from two thousand years ago, but, in the intensity and troubles of travels, in the camaraderie and crises, standing in the locations where those early spreaders of Jesus message stood, we got some clearer glimpses of what it was like for Jesus first female disciples.

The film crew Minerva Media in the field

During our talks to various groups after the documentary, and in a huge number of emails, many people have asked us if theres a book they could have that shares what we talked about on film. This is it, with extras.

We hope you enjoy travelling with us again, as we open the door to you to join us.

Helen Bond and Joan Taylor, August 2021

Introduction

Where Are the Women?

Did Jesus have female disciples? Popular memory would say no. The whole Christian tradition of sermons, art, film and theatre remembers Jesus as surrounded by twelve male disciples, his constant companions and confidants. Images of Jesus surrounded by a group consisting only of men are among the most famous works of art in the world: think of Leonardo da Vincis iconic painting The Last Supper (14956). Jesus sits in the middle of a long table, with six men to his right and six to his left, and whoever served the food has clearly departed.